1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with an improved safe of simple yet highly effective construction which essentially provides equivalent security to that offered by more complex safes at substantially less expense. More particularly, it is concerned with a safe having apertured frame structure, a door with corresponding apertured sidewall sections, and apparatus for locking the door in a closed position including one or more toggle mechanisms for operatively extending and retracting locking bolts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many people would like to own a safe in their home or at their place of business in order to securely store valuables, such as jewelry, guns, or important documents. However, the cost of purchasing a safe for these purposes is often prohibitive, primarily because conventional safes are very expensive to build. In part, the substantial cost is attributable to the conventional use of complex locking mechanisms, typically including slide bolts, combination type locks, and a slide bolt actuating assembly involving a rotatable idler connected by various links and cranks so that the slide bolts are retracted and extended in and out of their locked position by rotation of the idler. Such systems are complex to design and build and contain too many working parts capable of malfunctioning or otherwise improperly operating.
A number of safes have been proposed in the past for decreasing the complexity and expense of conventional safes, while attempting to retain the desired security attributes. In general, however, these safes have not solved the problem because they merely substitute complexities of their own. Patents illustrating such prior units include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,446,798 and 4,468,943.